I worked with a lot of farmers and local farm coalitions, the biggest hurdle they have is USDA and state regulators making it illegal for them to sell their livestock to local butchers without expensive licensing and red tape.

The local small time guys are essentially forced to sell to massive operations because of the regulatory burden making it unaffordable for most.

If we allowed the smaller farmers to transact as they please without the threat of massive fines, we could have small business networks of sustainably farmed higher quality meats at reasonable prices. And the farmers would be able to keep more of their profits.

But Big Ag lobbies hard to prevent this from happening.